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A Breif History if th Occupation
It has nothing to do with terrorism. It is neither a holy war nor a conflict between Islam and Judaism, nor directed against the Jews per se. The only way to end the conflict is to end its original cause: racial colonial settlement.
.
The Need for a New Strategy
Sunday, September 29 2002 @ 02:23 PM GMT
By Nizar Sakhnini
For Palestine Chronicle
A lot of healthy discussion about the need for a new strategy in the struggle for justice and peace in Palestine is taking place these days. The following paragraphs are not an attempt to lay down a new strategy.
This is a task that is beyond the ability of any individual to articulate, whomever he or she might be. What follows are general comments related with the situation that might shed some light on issues directly related with the discussions. (1)
The Goal:
A strategy is laid down to achieve a goal and assessment of the success or failure of any strategy is done through progress made in achieving that goal.
A widely held misconception these days is that the goal of the struggle in Palestine is the creation of a Palestinian State in part of Mandate Palestine and the percentage area of those parts of Palestine occupied in 1967. The implications of this misconception are obscuring the vision and leading to wrong conclusions and unnecessary disputes and waste of valuable time and efforts.
Palestinian resistance to colonization settlement started long before the Balfour Declaration in 1917 and even before Herzl published his Der Judenstaat in 1896.
The first signs of Palestinian resistance were a direct and spontaneous reaction to the behavior of the pioneer Zionist settler colonizers. Their efforts to dispossess and displace the Arab fellahin (peasants) were provocative and led to violent confrontations. The cumulative effect of a series of land purchases from mainly absentee landlords involving expulsions of fellahin and ensuing clashes brought important elements between the Arab urban elite to a realization of the full import of Zionism. Not only was land being purchased, but also its Arab cultivators were being dispossessed and displaced by foreigners whose ultimate political objective was the domination of Palestine. (2)
In the words of Walid Khalidi, "Behind the seemingly labyrinthine complexities of the so-called Arab-Israeli conflict and the baffling maze of claims and counter-claims their lies a continuous and continuing dual process. On the one hand, Zionist determination to implement, consolidate and expand the Basle 'vision', irrespective of the Arab character and patrimony in Palestine and its hinterland; on the other, a corresponding development of Arab resistance to Zionist encroachment and self-fulfillment at Arab expense. This is the essence of the Palestine tragedy. All else is derivative". (3)
This is the core of the conflict: a racist colonial settlement aiming at full control and hegemony against the will and at the expense of the indigenous people of Palestine in a flagrant violation of international law and basic human rights. It has nothing to do with terrorism. It is neither a holy war nor a conflict between Islam and Judaism, nor directed against the Jews per se. The only way to end the conflict is to end its original cause: racial colonial settlement
Without going into much detail at this point, I personally believe that the two-state solution, even if it gives the Palestinians 100% of the areas militarily occupied since 1967, would not provide a real solution and an end to the conflict.
This is the core of the conflict: a racist colonial settlement aiming at full control and hegemony against the will and at the expense of the indigenous people of Palestine in a flagrant violation of international law and basic human rights. It has nothing to do with terrorism. It is neither a holy war nor a conflict between Islam and Judaism, nor directed against the Jews per se. The only way to end the conflict is to end its original cause: racial colonial settlement.
The goal of the struggle was, and still is, an end to racial discrimination and an end to denial of the natural rights of the indigenous population to live as a free people in their own homeland, which they inherited from their parents, grand parents, and grand grand parents since time immemorial.
The Means:
Another misconception is that the so-called "suicide bombings" give Sharon a pretext to go ahead with his criminal behavior and gives legitimacy to his strategy aiming at a completion of the job that was not completed in 1948: a final solution based on complete control within the borders of "Greater Israel", whatever that might be.
It is true that killing of innocent civilians is immoral and should not be condoned or tolerated. It is also true that suicide bombings would not liberate Palestine. However, to insinuate that suicide bombings were the reason for Sharon's killings and destruction is an act of legitimate self-defence and that, once this phenomenon stops, Sharon's war crimes would stop is totally wrong.
Sharon and his military establishment, is no different from all the mainstream Zionist and Israeli leaders before him. They are after the land, all of it, cleansed of its indigenous population.
Replicating the massive expulsions that took place in 1948 proved to be impossible for a number of reasons that are beyond the scope of this short discussion. What is relevant to our discussion is that, to keep their control over the land and avoid the "demographic threat", on the one hand, and to perpetuate and legitimize occupation, on the other hand, the Israeli militarized establishment introduced a new concept following their territorial expansion in 1967: the Palestinians are considered as aliens who happened to be living on the land and that these aliens have no rights. The maximum generosity these aliens might get would be no more than autonomous rule within concentration camps serving as a reservoir for cheap labor. Those who don't like to live al slaves would be free to "voluntarily" leave the land, with no Right to Return. This summarizes the whole Israeli strategy since 1967 as reflected in all the plans designed to deal with the Palestinians starting with Allon's Plan in 1967, Begin's Autonomy Plan of 1977, Sharon's Village Leagues of 1981 and Barak's "generous offer" in Camp David in the summer of 2000. (4)
Absence of "suicide bombings" did not bring about peace and security and did not direct the Israeli Governments to end the illegal military occupation in violation of UN Security Council Resolutions 242 of 1967 and 338 of 1973.
Accordingly, while the "suicide bombings" are morally unacceptable, resistance to occupation and oppression using all means possible, including armed struggle against military targets, is a natural and legitimate act of self-defence that cannot be denied to a people under one of the worst and most oppressive kind of military occupation.
Footnotes:
(1) In addition to the media reports related with the discussions going on within the occupied territories, a lot of discussion is taking place on the internet and an increasing number of articles are being published in the media these days.
(2) Rashid Khalidi, Palestinian Identity: The Construction of Modern National Consciousness, New York: Columbia University Press, 1997, pp. 99-110.
(3) Walid Khalidi, ed., From Haven to Conquest: Readings in Zionism and the Palestine Problem until 1948. Beirut: Institute for Palestine Studies, 1971, p. xxii.
(4) A detailed documented account of the ethnic cleansing efforts made during the 1967 war and the different plans aimed at full Israeli control and hegemony in the OPT was presented by Michael Palumbo in: Imperial Israel: The History of the Occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. London: Bloomsbury Publishing Ltd., 1990. See also Noam Chomsky, The Fateful Triangle: the United States, Israel and the Palestinians. Montreal: Black Rose Books, 1984 which highlights the relationship between the 1982 War and Israel's plans for full control in the Palestinian areas occupied in 1967.
http://palestinechronicle.com/index.php
http://www.petitiononline.com/ddc12/petition.html
http://www.petitiononline.com/warcrime/petition.html
http://www.apfn.org/apfn/rule.htm
http://www.veganoutreach.com/whyvegan/animals.html
http://www.hedweb.com/siteoday/2002.htm
http://www.holocaustchronicle.org/
Nine-year-old Abdel Salam Sumerin was killed yesterday when Israel Defense Forces troops used live fire to disperse a crowd of school children challenging the army's attempt to impose a curfew on the El Amari refugee camp, in El Bireh.
Friday, September 20, 2002 Tishrei 14, 5763
The Need for a New Strategy
Sunday, September 29 2002 @ 02:23 PM GMT
By Nizar Sakhnini
For Palestine Chronicle
A lot of healthy discussion about the need for a new strategy in the struggle for justice and peace in Palestine is taking place these days. The following paragraphs are not an attempt to lay down a new strategy.
This is a task that is beyond the ability of any individual to articulate, whomever he or she might be. What follows are general comments related with the situation that might shed some light on issues directly related with the discussions. (1)
The Goal:
A strategy is laid down to achieve a goal and assessment of the success or failure of any strategy is done through progress made in achieving that goal.
A widely held misconception these days is that the goal of the struggle in Palestine is the creation of a Palestinian State in part of Mandate Palestine and the percentage area of those parts of Palestine occupied in 1967. The implications of this misconception are obscuring the vision and leading to wrong conclusions and unnecessary disputes and waste of valuable time and efforts.
Palestinian resistance to colonization settlement started long before the Balfour Declaration in 1917 and even before Herzl published his Der Judenstaat in 1896.
The first signs of Palestinian resistance were a direct and spontaneous reaction to the behavior of the pioneer Zionist settler colonizers. Their efforts to dispossess and displace the Arab fellahin (peasants) were provocative and led to violent confrontations. The cumulative effect of a series of land purchases from mainly absentee landlords involving expulsions of fellahin and ensuing clashes brought important elements between the Arab urban elite to a realization of the full import of Zionism. Not only was land being purchased, but also its Arab cultivators were being dispossessed and displaced by foreigners whose ultimate political objective was the domination of Palestine. (2)
In the words of Walid Khalidi, "Behind the seemingly labyrinthine complexities of the so-called Arab-Israeli conflict and the baffling maze of claims and counter-claims their lies a continuous and continuing dual process. On the one hand, Zionist determination to implement, consolidate and expand the Basle 'vision', irrespective of the Arab character and patrimony in Palestine and its hinterland; on the other, a corresponding development of Arab resistance to Zionist encroachment and self-fulfillment at Arab expense. This is the essence of the Palestine tragedy. All else is derivative". (3)
This is the core of the conflict: a racist colonial settlement aiming at full control and hegemony against the will and at the expense of the indigenous people of Palestine in a flagrant violation of international law and basic human rights. It has nothing to do with terrorism. It is neither a holy war nor a conflict between Islam and Judaism, nor directed against the Jews per se. The only way to end the conflict is to end its original cause: racial colonial settlement
Without going into much detail at this point, I personally believe that the two-state solution, even if it gives the Palestinians 100% of the areas militarily occupied since 1967, would not provide a real solution and an end to the conflict.
This is the core of the conflict: a racist colonial settlement aiming at full control and hegemony against the will and at the expense of the indigenous people of Palestine in a flagrant violation of international law and basic human rights. It has nothing to do with terrorism. It is neither a holy war nor a conflict between Islam and Judaism, nor directed against the Jews per se. The only way to end the conflict is to end its original cause: racial colonial settlement.
The goal of the struggle was, and still is, an end to racial discrimination and an end to denial of the natural rights of the indigenous population to live as a free people in their own homeland, which they inherited from their parents, grand parents, and grand grand parents since time immemorial.
The Means:
Another misconception is that the so-called "suicide bombings" give Sharon a pretext to go ahead with his criminal behavior and gives legitimacy to his strategy aiming at a completion of the job that was not completed in 1948: a final solution based on complete control within the borders of "Greater Israel", whatever that might be.
It is true that killing of innocent civilians is immoral and should not be condoned or tolerated. It is also true that suicide bombings would not liberate Palestine. However, to insinuate that suicide bombings were the reason for Sharon's killings and destruction is an act of legitimate self-defence and that, once this phenomenon stops, Sharon's war crimes would stop is totally wrong.
Sharon and his military establishment, is no different from all the mainstream Zionist and Israeli leaders before him. They are after the land, all of it, cleansed of its indigenous population.
Replicating the massive expulsions that took place in 1948 proved to be impossible for a number of reasons that are beyond the scope of this short discussion. What is relevant to our discussion is that, to keep their control over the land and avoid the "demographic threat", on the one hand, and to perpetuate and legitimize occupation, on the other hand, the Israeli militarized establishment introduced a new concept following their territorial expansion in 1967: the Palestinians are considered as aliens who happened to be living on the land and that these aliens have no rights. The maximum generosity these aliens might get would be no more than autonomous rule within concentration camps serving as a reservoir for cheap labor. Those who don't like to live al slaves would be free to "voluntarily" leave the land, with no Right to Return. This summarizes the whole Israeli strategy since 1967 as reflected in all the plans designed to deal with the Palestinians starting with Allon's Plan in 1967, Begin's Autonomy Plan of 1977, Sharon's Village Leagues of 1981 and Barak's "generous offer" in Camp David in the summer of 2000. (4)
Absence of "suicide bombings" did not bring about peace and security and did not direct the Israeli Governments to end the illegal military occupation in violation of UN Security Council Resolutions 242 of 1967 and 338 of 1973.
Accordingly, while the "suicide bombings" are morally unacceptable, resistance to occupation and oppression using all means possible, including armed struggle against military targets, is a natural and legitimate act of self-defence that cannot be denied to a people under one of the worst and most oppressive kind of military occupation.
Footnotes:
(1) In addition to the media reports related with the discussions going on within the occupied territories, a lot of discussion is taking place on the internet and an increasing number of articles are being published in the media these days.
(2) Rashid Khalidi, Palestinian Identity: The Construction of Modern National Consciousness, New York: Columbia University Press, 1997, pp. 99-110.
(3) Walid Khalidi, ed., From Haven to Conquest: Readings in Zionism and the Palestine Problem until 1948. Beirut: Institute for Palestine Studies, 1971, p. xxii.
(4) A detailed documented account of the ethnic cleansing efforts made during the 1967 war and the different plans aimed at full Israeli control and hegemony in the OPT was presented by Michael Palumbo in: Imperial Israel: The History of the Occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. London: Bloomsbury Publishing Ltd., 1990. See also Noam Chomsky, The Fateful Triangle: the United States, Israel and the Palestinians. Montreal: Black Rose Books, 1984 which highlights the relationship between the 1982 War and Israel's plans for full control in the Palestinian areas occupied in 1967.
http://palestinechronicle.com/index.php
http://www.petitiononline.com/ddc12/petition.html
http://www.petitiononline.com/warcrime/petition.html
http://www.apfn.org/apfn/rule.htm
http://www.veganoutreach.com/whyvegan/animals.html
http://www.hedweb.com/siteoday/2002.htm
http://www.holocaustchronicle.org/
Nine-year-old Abdel Salam Sumerin was killed yesterday when Israel Defense Forces troops used live fire to disperse a crowd of school children challenging the army's attempt to impose a curfew on the El Amari refugee camp, in El Bireh.
Friday, September 20, 2002 Tishrei 14, 5763
For more information:
http://palestinechronicle.com/index.php
Add Your Comments
Comments
(Hide Comments)
At the end of World War II, with the revelation of the Nazis death camps, American and European politicians' excuse for inaction was "They didn't know."
The excuse of most Germans was, "They didn't know."
Well, this time the world knows that the Arabs are deliberately murdering Israeli women, children and non-combatants. This is not "collateral" attacks. This is the deliberate targeting of civilians.
And unlike the Germans, the Arabs know, and cheer and dance in the streets and hand out candy. The Nazis tried to hide their acts; they had guilty consciences. The Arabs celebrate murder.
The Palestinians think they can destroy Israel, via an indiscriminate campaign of mass murder against innocent Israeli civilians.
Here is the difference between Israel and the Palestinians.
Israelis don't call for murdering children and women, the Arabs do.
Israelis don't strap bombs to themselves, to murder women and defenseless civilians. The Arabs do.
Israel dont tell its people, that if you kill Arabs, you will go to heaven and be with 72 virgins. The Arabs do.
Only the Pal Arabs consider a violent uprising that solely involves killing children in a mall, bus or disco and then celebrate afterwards.
The way Arabs think. The way to get honor and respect, is when you blow yourself up along with some innocent Jewish mothers and babies, your picture will be plastered on posters throughout your hometown. Your family will acquire a revered place in society and will also receive $25,000 in American currency from Saddam Hussein. You meanwhile, will get to fulfill all of your wildest and repressed sexual fantasies with 72 virgins in heaven.
Your concern should be, why dont the Palestinians care there own children.
Seeing the reaction of the Palestinian families after their son/daughter, becomes a suicide bomber and murders Israeli civilians. I wonder, when these children are born, or if the parents are looking into some maternity ward in a West Bank hospital, what are they thinking.
Oh look at all the beautiful little bombs!" "Is that one yours? What a cute little bomb, she has your eyes,"
"I'll bet you'll be able to wrap a lot of explosives around him when he's older"
The shocking pic of the 2 month old Palestinian baby dressed as a suicide bomber, has shown the sadism the Arabs teach there children.
Arafat has raised an entire generation to believe that the highest aspiration in life is to kill Jews. The Palestinians are engaged in an unremitting campaign of targetted murder of women and children. When the Palestinians massacre Israeli school children on buses, and babies in baby carriages, they celebrate. They have raised an entire generation to believe that the the highest cultural and religious value is the massacre of Jews. Through the Arabs hate, an entire generation has lost the capacity for humanity.
Name the last time Israelis intentionally killed Palestinian children, and then rejoiced over or justified it in the name of religion?
The facts are that two years ago Israel offered the Palestinians a sovereign state in the West Bank and Gaza, with Jerusalem as its capital. Barak offered the Palestinians a state, something no Arab country ever did. Barak did this, even though the Palestinians never controlled this land. The response has been the continued murder of Israeli civilians. As a Palestinian organization confirmed in a poll reported last week by the AP, a majority of Palestians view the objective of their fight not to control the West Bank and Gaza, but destruction of Israel. This is what the Palestinians want.
Arafat's speech in Sweden in 1996.
Arafat’s speech in front of 40 Arab diplomats in the Grand Hotel in Stockholm, Sweden, on January 30, 1996. Was called "The Impending Collapse of Israel".
"We will take over everything including all of Jerusalem," he declared repeatedly. Arafat's plan has two main components aimed to cause the Jews to abandon Israel. "Within five years we will have six to seven million Arabs living on the West Bank and in Jerusalem. Arafat explained that this will be the beginning of a pressure campaign resulting within a few years in Israel's ultimate destruction. "You understand that we plan to eliminate the State of Israel and establish a purely Palestinian State. We will make life unbearable for Jews by psychological warfare and population explosion; Jews will not want to live among us Arabs!"
On the same day in 1993 on which Yasser Arafat signed the Declaration of
Principles on the White House lawn, he spoke the following words on Jordan TV:
"Since we cannot defeat Israel in war we do this in stages. We take any and every territory that we can of Palestine, and establish a sovereignty there, and we use it as a springboard to take more. When the time comes, we can get the Arab nations to join us for the final blow against Israel."
Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmad Yassin says, that the date of the establishment of the Islamist state in Palestine, will be built on the ruins of Israel in 2027.
Who wants genocide, I'll let you judge. http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-120601holy.story
Sheikh Muhammed Siyam, a Hamas military leader said this.
"I've been told to restrict or restrain what I say. I hope no one is recording me or taking any pictures, as none are allowed, because I'm going to speak the truth to you," Siyam reportedly said at the conference. "It's simple. Finish off the Israelis. Kill them all! Exterminate them! No peace ever! Do not bother to talk politics."
The late Faisal Husseini, Arafat's Jerusalem representative, a man who was cultured, sophisticated and considered the most moderate of all the Palestinians, shortly before his death on May 31, 2001, expressed his true feelings in an interview with the popular Egyptian newspaper el Arav.
Husseini said: "We must distinguish the strategies and long-term goals from the political-phased goals which we are compelled to accept due to international pressures." But the "ultimate goal is the liberation of all of historical Palestine."
Explicitly he said: "Oslo has to be viewed as a Trojan Horse."
He even added and clarified that it is the obligation of all the Palestinian forces and factions to see the Oslo Accords as "temporary" steps. Husseini went on to say, Israel wont exist in 20 years.
Sari Nusseibeh is another supposed Palestinian moderate.
In an interview on Al-Jazeera television on July 14, translated by Memri. Nusseibeh praised everyone involved in jihad against Israel. Explaining that he did not want to pass moral judgment on the murderers when he signed a petition a month earlier calling for an end to suicide bombers, Nusseibeh said that terrorism presents no moral dilemma, it is only a question of whether or not "political benefit" accrues from killing Israeli civilians.
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